Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Friday, August 25, 2017

I thought I'd offer some guidance here about how to cut the motor ports out of the battery boxes.

First, the dimensions:

Notice that there should be a right and left motor port, and that the port should be cut on the same end as the knurled hose fitting holes:

There are several ways you could make these cuts, depending on what equipment you have. I use the table saw, a compound miter saw, and a grinder with a metal cut off wheel to make the cuts.

I set the fence so that the cut here would be at 1" from the left edge, I clamped a stop block to the fence so that the blade would only cut to 3.5" inches into the body, and I set the height of the saw blade so that it only cuts 1.5" up. Measure twice, or three times, and don't get this wrong. For the other parallel cut, you can keep the stop block in the same place, and the blade at the same height, and just move the fence over.

For the cut on the body, I use the compound miter saw:

Again, I set a stop block on the fence. It's on the right behind the blade. It set so that this cut is 3.5" from the outside edge of the box. And I carefully plunge the blade down and in (take care, the blade can catch) until the cut just meets the other two at the corners.

For the last cut along the curved spine of the battery box, I use a metal cut off wheel on my grinder. I clamp the grinder on top of blocks to get it 1.5" off the table top. Then I carefully plunge the box into it to make the cut. This method is slower than the others but it's the best way I've got to cut the curved side of the box.

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Saturday, September 19, 2015

These are new battery boxes I've been building with Bennett Dahl. We've been doing R and D for a few weeks and we've worked out a method to build these out of 16 gauge aluminum sheet. The backs are attached with small, flush mount machine screws. They are built to the CS:R club specs, which are 8.25" tall and 3" wide. These are slightly oversized, usually by about 1/16" to 1/8" in height and width to accommodate the NPC motors.

They are $280 a pair, plus $20 shipping in the U.S. Shipping is $45 to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Canada.

We can cut motor ports in the sides for an extra $20 per pair, but since everyone's motor setup is different, we are leaving them whole as the default. They will come standard with 5/8" holes drilled for the knurled hose fittings, but we can leave those off by request.

These are sanded down to 120 grit. A bit of sanding to 220, and then some self-etching, metal primer will get them ready for finish coats of white.

Paypal $300 for a pair of boxes (which includes shipping) to mccormick@csus.edu

Monday, September 22, 2014

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R2D2-- Matt McCormick

Got it in my head to build an R2D2--I've loved Star Wars since it came out and I''ve got a D-I-Y maker ethic, so it was a pretty obvious project. This blog documents the whole build, and now that the R2 is done, it includes public appearances, parts construction, new projects, modifications, and tweaks. I learned a lot from the builders who did this before me. I hope this blog does the same for others who start the project.

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Me

Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Rochester. Teaching at CSUS since 1996. My main area of research and publication now is atheism and philosophy of religion. I am also interested in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and rational decision theory/critical thinking.